You are not Weak
Many elements of the fitness industry seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time convincing people, especially women, that they are weak. How often to you see fitness equipment for sale that is supposed to make things easier? Or tiny little dumbells and kettlbells that aren't even heavy enough to hold a door open?
The image to the left has a half kilo dumbell! Unless you are recovering from an injury or have a serious injury I can not think of a single exercise were that weight would be appropriate.
So if a weight isn't heavy enough to hold a door open yet you are perfectly capable of pushing or pulling that door open then logically you are strong enough to lift a heavier weight. This is the crux of the matter as even people who haven't ever lifted a dumbell before still move heavy items multiple times a day. It may be opening a door, shopping bags, children or even just moving themselves.
I have lost count of how many times I have, for example, seen a PT get a client to bench press 3-5kg dumbells. That isn't enough weight to make a difference and all too often the client will actually struggle to control two items at once if this is new to them. Very often the fact the weight is so light makes this worse as the body tries to use the wrong muscles to move the weight. If you give that same client a 10-15kg barbell then most, if not all, of these issues go away as the weight is both enough to force the body to use the right muscles and enough to get a training effect. I have trained people of all different ages, sizes and experience levels and have never once had a client who could not barbell bench press 15kg during their first session. People are not pathetically weak and should not be treated that way unless there is an injury or illness.
The main problem is if you start people off to low you are re-enforcing the totally false 'I am weak' mentality. You will also not be able to progress the client quickly. Starting at 3kg for each exercise then maybe 4kg the next week, 5kg the week after and so on. It could be 4-6 weeks before you get the client lifting a decent weight and while you may enjoy getting their money the client will see very little in terms of results. Your client would probably be better of both financially or physically doing an exercise class like Pump than training with you.
For many PTs they just take the easy route and they just can't be bothered to inspire their clients and let their clients know they are not weak. This is just laziness and cashing in on the nonsense that is 'toning' workouts. It is not overly difficult to 'normalise' a heavier weight and get the client on board. A trick I have used in the past is like this:
Take the client upstairs.
POPT: Do you know how many steps you have just walked up?
Client: Not really, 15?
POPT: Close it is 18. If you think about it that mean you have just lifted your entire weight with each leg 9 times.
Client: I never though of it like that, but that make sense.
POPT: Ok so now you are going to use pretty much the same muscles you have just used to walk up the stars on this Leg Press machine. You will be using both legs together and I'm going to start you off at 30kg. You have just used one leg to lift more than that, but this is slightly different so we will start at 30kg and see how we get on and hopefully increase the weight on the next set. Ok?
Client: OK.
The example above would be used the first time a client used a Leg Press which for many people does feel weird/different so starting off with 30kg is probably about the minimum weight for a first ever set. Some clients will lift more. All to often you see PT using 20-25kg with clients who have multiple sessions.
Some exercises just can not be done properly with a light weight such as Kettlebell Swings. The minimum weight for swings is probably around 12kg for women, 14-16kg for men otherwise in just turns into a squat with a front raise. If a PT dose not think there client can swing that weight then do another exercise because giving them a 6kg kettlebell is not going to work and will just each the client poor motor patterns.
The bottom line is too many Fit Pros train their clients no better than they could train themselves via an app or online workout. Is it any wonder why Fit Pros have so little credibility is so many people's eyes?
The image to the left has a half kilo dumbell! Unless you are recovering from an injury or have a serious injury I can not think of a single exercise were that weight would be appropriate.
So if a weight isn't heavy enough to hold a door open yet you are perfectly capable of pushing or pulling that door open then logically you are strong enough to lift a heavier weight. This is the crux of the matter as even people who haven't ever lifted a dumbell before still move heavy items multiple times a day. It may be opening a door, shopping bags, children or even just moving themselves.
I have lost count of how many times I have, for example, seen a PT get a client to bench press 3-5kg dumbells. That isn't enough weight to make a difference and all too often the client will actually struggle to control two items at once if this is new to them. Very often the fact the weight is so light makes this worse as the body tries to use the wrong muscles to move the weight. If you give that same client a 10-15kg barbell then most, if not all, of these issues go away as the weight is both enough to force the body to use the right muscles and enough to get a training effect. I have trained people of all different ages, sizes and experience levels and have never once had a client who could not barbell bench press 15kg during their first session. People are not pathetically weak and should not be treated that way unless there is an injury or illness.
The main problem is if you start people off to low you are re-enforcing the totally false 'I am weak' mentality. You will also not be able to progress the client quickly. Starting at 3kg for each exercise then maybe 4kg the next week, 5kg the week after and so on. It could be 4-6 weeks before you get the client lifting a decent weight and while you may enjoy getting their money the client will see very little in terms of results. Your client would probably be better of both financially or physically doing an exercise class like Pump than training with you.
For many PTs they just take the easy route and they just can't be bothered to inspire their clients and let their clients know they are not weak. This is just laziness and cashing in on the nonsense that is 'toning' workouts. It is not overly difficult to 'normalise' a heavier weight and get the client on board. A trick I have used in the past is like this:
Take the client upstairs.
POPT: Do you know how many steps you have just walked up?
Client: Not really, 15?
POPT: Close it is 18. If you think about it that mean you have just lifted your entire weight with each leg 9 times.
Client: I never though of it like that, but that make sense.
POPT: Ok so now you are going to use pretty much the same muscles you have just used to walk up the stars on this Leg Press machine. You will be using both legs together and I'm going to start you off at 30kg. You have just used one leg to lift more than that, but this is slightly different so we will start at 30kg and see how we get on and hopefully increase the weight on the next set. Ok?
Client: OK.
The example above would be used the first time a client used a Leg Press which for many people does feel weird/different so starting off with 30kg is probably about the minimum weight for a first ever set. Some clients will lift more. All to often you see PT using 20-25kg with clients who have multiple sessions.
Some exercises just can not be done properly with a light weight such as Kettlebell Swings. The minimum weight for swings is probably around 12kg for women, 14-16kg for men otherwise in just turns into a squat with a front raise. If a PT dose not think there client can swing that weight then do another exercise because giving them a 6kg kettlebell is not going to work and will just each the client poor motor patterns.
The bottom line is too many Fit Pros train their clients no better than they could train themselves via an app or online workout. Is it any wonder why Fit Pros have so little credibility is so many people's eyes?
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